GearCity 1.22 Progress Thread

[Eric.B]

It's been a while since I updated progress. And for good reason. I've been nose deep in data, creating our new default map with the mod tools. This morning it's finally operational!

The new default map will be named Base City Map (so it shows up first on the list). It has 206 cities. Data for 1900 and 2020, all AI company files from the Classic Map, and some additional data in turn events file.

Currently it's missing additional city data points between 1900 and 2020 (So growth rates between 1900 and 2020 may not be close to accurate). It's also missing world news events (though some of the economic effects may be felt), component/vehicle popularity changes, and city events such as war/nation changes/etc.

These will be added over the course of the next few months every time there is an update. I plan on working on maps and mods every Monday, unless there is an exception. I proclaim it "Maps and Mods Monday!"

(Interesting factoid, the classic map took several months to implement using the old method. With the new map tools, I was about to do roughly 60% of the classic map content in less than 8 days... )


Some other new stuff, Random History has been implemented. Global inflation, gas, buyers, pensions, stocks, and other rates will go up and down randomly now when enabled or if you continue the game after it is over. Economic crashes and booms are also implemented, as well as War between 1 to 5 nations. Some of these values need to probably be adjusted, but it's a start.

Some new features were added to the mod tools. (As needed while working on the map files.)

Finally a buyer's rating has been added to the city's data. This allows you (as a mapper) to specifically adjust the amount of vehicles a city will buy as a multiple of the population. This is important for territory based maps where US has much less population than Europe, yet owned well over 70% of the world's vehicles the first half of the 20th century...

As of right now, the rating is not specifically displayed in game. I may or may not do so in the future.

-Random History
-City/Territory specific buyer rating.
-Base files for "Base City Map"

[Eric.B]

That is very interesting! How about having an option to select 200 cities with respective histories and so on and an option to have how many cities you may like.
For example I love to play huge gigantic maps in Civilization game series and I'd love play your game with more than 200 cities.
No problem with the others cities don't have history, etc! For me is important mkt, population to conquer the world! Lol

Well, my goal was to trim down a bunch of unplayed cities from the game to speed up turn times and clump the AI together more. If you played on the old school classic map, you'll find a lot of companies slapped together in one spot improves competition somewhat.

But the game will easily support up to 99999 cities (if made with the mod tools) and more if you want to do the files by hand in XML. But I won't be the one doing it. I will however publish as much data as I have acclimated over the years publicly, and link to many of my sources on the wiki so if anyone wants to make a HUGE map, I'll save them some research work.

[Eric.B]

v1.21.3 has been released. This build may look tiny because most of the work was done in the SP patches for v1.21.2...

Since the last post on here I fixed a number of bugs, implemented regional map system which will allow games in regions without the need for 3d modeling tools. I made a huge change to the buyer purchasing power formula. This formula may need a little more balancing over the next few updates. And finally, I made a new regional map for Europe, although this map is a test map for the regional system. I will add more cities to it over the coming months.

I'll start on v1.21.4 soon which will focus on finishing the remaining mod tools (mainly component editor) and a mod loading system which will allow you to override the default game's files without breaking them.

-Fixed bug with first earnings after IPO.
-Display eps of a freshly IPO'd company.
-Adjusted recent activity text to remove any confusion about your action to build a factory and the factory being actually built.
-Fixed bugs in the "Will it Fit" system in advance chassis and engine designer if you create more than one engine or chassis per visit to RnD state.
-Fixed bug which could cause reserved vehicles to become abandoned if you closed the factories. Game will now automatically scrap any vehicles in factories you close.
-Added a few more peek messages to loading in Windows to prevent ghosting on weak win7+ machines.
-Implemented Regional city maps, so you can change the map texture to any place in the world and have cities placed there using just gps coordinates.
-Implemented a European Test map.
-Changed buyer purchasing power formula to prevent exploitable sales and to simplify/speed up calculations. It may need some modifications over the next couple of patches.

[Eric.B]

I've been focusing on finishing the mod tools. The mod tools are needed for me to finish all non artwork related content.

I've completed the Mod Format and implemented it in the game. The Mod Format is an xml file generated from the mod tools that allows you to override game and map files without altering the main game files. Any files you don't choose to alter will use the default game or map files. Mods are selectable using the external settings editor.

The mod format supports modding of:
Name Generator Lists -- All Maps
Random Newspaper Articles -- All Maps
Reviews -- All Maps
Components -- All Maps
Additional (Doesn't override default files) Component Artwork -- All Maps
Additional (Doesn't override default files) Vehicle/Accessory Artwork -- All Maps
Additional (Doesn't override default files) Miscellaneous Artwork -- All Maps
Components AI Use -- All Maps
Racing Series -- All Maps
Contract Info (current only for engines) -- All Maps
AI Files -- Specific Maps
City Files -- Specific Maps
Turn Events -- Specific Maps

As for individual editors, I've completed the Name Generator List editor and the Newspaper Article editor. I'm currently halfway done with the Reviews Editor, and will continue working on editors for the next couple of days.

Finally I've fixed a couple bugs in the Employee Benefits system. I've also reduced the morale decreases due to lower than average benefits and adjust the formula for striking to hopefully reduce it somewhat.

[Eric.B]

Been almost 2 weeks since I posted in here. I just haven't been wordy lately, so my apologies.

All mod tools are now completed except for the scenario system and the contracts editor. Scenarios will be pushed back to v1.24/v1.25. Contracts editor will be pushed back till the new contracting system is implemented. There may be some bugs still to work out with the mod system. I'll hopefully catch and fix most of them in the run up to v1.22.

For the last couple of Map and Mod Mondays I implemented the 1930, 1950, and 1980 city data for the Base Map. I've got one more data point (year 2000) before I interpolate them and include them in the game.

A big change in the game client was me rewording Unit Costs and Total Production Costs. Some folks were having trouble wrapping their heads around what these things meant. So I have changed the wording to better match the business definitions of what each data point represents.

The term "Unit Costs" have been replaced with "Material Costs" Wikipedia
The term "Total Production Costs" have been replaced with "Total Unit Cost" wikipedia Investopedia

This will make it easier for me to just directly link the Investopedia page whenever someone questions why "Total Unit Costs" (formerly "Total Production Costs") fluctuates.

As for the game client, I've worked on several bugs the last few days:
-Fixed UAE crash on base map.
-Fixed 2020 crash on European Map.
-Removed Testing Map from the game
-Fixed several reports issues in District reports.
-Fixed bug in coordinate system when getting distances between two cities.
-Fixed list not rescrolling properly on district mega menus.
-Fixed bug in competition map where HQ were red when cities were red.
-Adjusted age penalty effect.
-Changed all instances of "Unit Cost" to "Material Costs"
-Changed all instances "Total Production Costs" to "Total Unit Costs"
-Fixed bug which does not check "Auto Benefits" when loading the game.
-Load custom player logos files
-Load custom music files


Mod tools:
-Reviews Editor
-Components/Models/Vehicle Types editor
-Racing Series Editor
-Player Logo Editor (Add your own Logos to the game.)
-Music Playlist editor (add your own music to the game.)
-Did you know editor



v1.21.4 launches tomorrow. Which means v1.22 is the next build to be worked on. I plan on mostly focusing on balancing of sub components, some changes to formulas in the vehicle designer/sales system, and some tweaks to the AI when building vehicles, etc. Most of this work will utilize the mod tools. (Thus the point of implementing them now instead of at the end of the game development.)

[Eric.B]

Last couple of days I did some server work, updated software (if you didn't notice, our theme is gone ) and implemented the new wiki system. The wiki will serve as a host for the in game manual, community documentation, and modding documentation. I'll be adding new content to as I progress with the mod tools. I'll probably take Saturdays to do manual documentation until it is caught up. The wiki will be made public once it has some more content on it.


I've fixed a couple of bugs in the mod tools dealing with exporting components files.

Bond and loan rates have been adjusted. The more money you borrow the higher the rates. Overall rates have increased as well and the credit rating needed for bonds has been lowed slightly.

I started working on component balancing. The first item on my list was Electric Engines. Some of this work extends over to other engine types and certainly with other cylinderless engine types. Next I'll be working on Wankel and Steam engines, before moving to Diesel, 2 stroke, and single cylinder balancing.

As for electrics, here's what I did today:
-Increased Electric Engine weight.
-Increased Electic Engine design and material costs.
-Increased Electric Engine manufacturing and design complexity.
-Increased Electric Engine Finish time.
-Increased Electric Engine Torque.
-Decreased Electric Engine RPMs
-Adjusted Electric Engine Fuel Economy
-Fixed bug in Components Mod Tool when exporting gearbox changes.
-Fixed Advance Designer, layout, showing bore/strike text and help buttons for electric engines.
-Fixed Advance Designer, layout, shows displacement slider for electric engines.
-Fixed Advance Designer, Summary, showing bore and stoke text for electric engines.
-Fixed Advance Designer, bottom panel, shows displacement help button for electric engines.
-Fixed Advance Designer, bottom panel, Test Vehicle Rating Specs shows cc for electric engines.
-Fixed Assisted Designer, showing displacement for electric engines.
-Fixed View Engine showing Displacement, Bore, and Stroke for Electric Engines.
-Added a 'None' induction system for designs, such as electrics, that do not have an air induction system.

[Eric.B]

-Increased Diesel Torque and Fuel Economy.
-Decreased Diesel RPMs
-Increased Gasoline RPMs
-Decreased Gasoline Torque
-Decreased Natural Gas Torque and RPMs
-Increased Natural Gas Fuel Economy
-Decreased Hybrid Torque
-Increased Hybrid Fuel Economy
-Decreased Hydrogen Torque
-Increased Hydrogen Fuel Economy.
-Decreased Autogas's Torque and Fuel Economy
-Increased E85's Torque and RPMs
-Decreased E85's fuel economy
-Increased Steam Torque and Weight
-Decreased Steam's RPM and Fuel Economy
-Increased 2-Stroke RPMs, Fuel Economy
-Decreased 2-Stroke Reliability, Smoothness/Comfort, Weight, Torque
-Implemented a hidden "Torque" value for valves, mainly to be used with 2 stroke.
-Adjusted Star Display for SubComponents.
-Allow for negative values for weight, smoothness, and reliability in valves mod tool.
-Allow for negative values for smoothness in layouts and cylinders mod tool.
-Increased Single Cylinder Power
-Reduced Single Cylinder price and smoothness
-Implemented direct effect of low engine 'smoothness' on consumer buyers rating for certain vehicle types (based on type's luxury ratings). This should prevent single cylinder/two stroke engines being used on certain vehicle types.
-Fixed Crash in Mega Menu when using the Filters in the Districting System.
-Adjusted V, Straight, 10 Cylinder, and 12 Cylinder Smoothness Balancing.
-Added more 'layout arrangement' types to shorten VV, W, X, and H engines based on the number of cylinder banks they have.
-Switched Fuel Rating and Power Ratings for Engines to directly use the Engine's Specs rather than cylinder count.

[Eric.B]

Some more balancing has been done, I didn't keep great track of it however.

Here are some things I knocked out that I have tickets for:
-Ordering Subcomponents by Name
-Adjusted fuel popularity growth system
-Fixed some vehicle type popularity issues in some continents.
-Nerfed Design/Testing sliders effects on ratings.
-Rewrote used car sales system to have a more direct effect on lower end sales.
-Removed drop down boxes with no items for Steam/Wankel engines.
-Added "Turbined" flag for engine layouts that use "Dimension" rather than bore/stroke. This effects only Wankel engines in game. (Yes I know Wankels are not turbines, but Pistonless Rotary Engines are more similar to Turbines in this respect than real Rotary engines.)
-Tweaked Credit Rating Formula
-Credit Rating updates every 4 months rather than once a year now.
-Fixed bug in the AI/Assisted Designer Components Selection system that was giving equal weight to all components (thus why It seemed random.)
-Balanced AI subcomponent selection bias.

About 4 or 5 more tickets to knock out, then I switch to getting the maps to a bare minimum level. v1.22 RC1 is coming soon.

[Eric.B]

v1.22 is ready to launch to Testing build tomorrow (hour or two after I wake up).

I've implemented a system which allows the AI to learn from how you play the game. When you create best selling vehicles, it will store the information (sliders, component selection, years, etc.) to use against you in future games. This system will be expanded to allow you to save your slider positions for future use in v1.23.

So vehicle design wise, the AI should be completed (may do a tiny amount of tweaking as more play tests come in). Which leaves only the AI business actions to worry about over the next 2-3 major builds.


Outside of that, the last couple of weeks has been focused on implementing map data. I've finished creating the interpolation values for Base City Map and the new Base Territories map. I've added/tweaked growth rates, interest rates, etc. 131 news articles based on real events have been added to the game, along with images for the news paper. The majority of these are related to economic market trends, depressions, recessions, energy crisis, etc.

I've also implemented war events between 1900 and 1920 in the Base City Map, and the major war events (without all the news articles) for Base City and Base Territories up to 1950.

I still have a bit more to do to both these maps, Flag and Nation Changes need to be implemented, small wars after 1920 need to be implemented, and any major notable world events need to be added. Most of this will be done over the next few months (on Map & Mod Mondays), but the next couple days I'll probably focus more attention on it as long as no major bugs with the Testing build release pops up.

Between testing build and full v1.22 release (the 17th), I plan on adding some more music to the game, launch the wiki (though it may be incomplete), and hopefully get above 200 news articles in Base City Map.

[Eric.B]

4:19am and I finally got v1.22 ready to go! So what's new the last couple of days?

-53 new songs were added, roughly 4.5 hours, from 3 different artist.
-Minor redesign of the music player system.
-Fixed several bugs in the Music Player system
-Implemented a year limiter for music, so that only certain music will play based on the in game year. You can toggle this setting in the music player.
-Implemented continuous playback system, so that a song will not be interrupted by going to RnD or Showrooms. You can toggle this setting in the music player.
-Random Music setting is now saved.
-Implemented the in game wiki. You can access it out of game here: http://wiki.gearcity.info. Currently the wiki only contains some information about the mod tools. I plan to expand the game documentation every Saturday.
-Base City Map news articles and war flags have been updated to 1925 (not including major 1930s and 1940s wars).
-Fixed bug with engine saving that caused development pace and the turbined flag to be miss matched.
-Several bug fixes to the mod tools over the course of using them to implement various things in the game.

v1.22 will be released in about 6-8 hours (depending on if I sleep through my alarm). Then I will move to working on a Supplemental Patch for v1.22 which should fix several non-save game breaking bugs that I have accumulated over the last few weeks/months.